Studying physiological parameters during post-surgical recovery is critical for gaining insights into animal health and determining readiness for experimentation. However, technological restrictions pose practical challenges when conducting experiments with socially housed animals. To address this, we developed a novel telemetry system, SoHo™, capable of simultaneously collecting electroencephalogram (EEG), electromyogram (EMG), body temperature, and locomotor activity in group-housed small animals. This study evaluates the efficacy of the SoHo™ telemetry platform to wirelessly assess sleep and EEG spectral profiles in group-housed mice. C57BL/6 female mice (22 weeks old; N=5) were surgically instrumented subcutaneously with the SoHo™ telemetry transmitters (model X02) and group-housed under a standardized 12-hour dark/light cycle. Synchronized EEG, EMG, body temperature, gross locomotor activity, and video data were continuously collected during 12 days of post-operative recovery. Following surgery (day 0), the average percentage of slow wave sleep (SWS) was 32.9 ± 15.5% and paradoxical sleep (PS) was 11.2 ± 6.1%. By day 12, SWS decreased to 26.2 ± 9.7% and PS decreased to 5.2 ± 0.9%. EEG Delta power was 4693 ± 276 µV2 (dark phase) and 3843 ± 742 µV2 (light phase) on day 0 and decreased to 2581 ± 410 µV2 (dark phase) and 3019 ± 359 µV2 (light phase) on day 12. EEG Theta power was 1802 ± 405 µV2 (dark phase) and 2535 ± 516 µV2 (light phase) on day 0 and 1838 ± 434 µV2(dark phase) and 2446 ± 407 µV2 (light phase) on day 12. EEG Alpha, Beta, and Gamma power bands did not show statistical differences. Subcutaneous temperature readings were 35.9 ± 0.4 oC (dark phase) and 35.7 ± 0.2 oC (light phase) on day 0, and 36.3 ± 0.3 oC (dark phase) and 35.6 ± 0.3 oC (light phase) on day 12. Post-surgery, average gross locomotor activity (calculated as counts per minute; cpm) was 13181 ± 509 cpm (dark phase) and 81707 ± 8161 cpm (light phase). By day 12, gross locomotor activity was 192463 ± 29604 cpm (dark phase) and 58248 ± 5751 cpm (light phase). The data demonstrates that SoHo™ telemetry is a robust tool for evaluating EEG, EMG, temperature, and activity variations in socially housed mice. Future studies using pain interventions and housing strategies will help further characterize EEG dynamics during recovery. This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2026 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.
Velie et al. (Fri,) studied this question.